CARNAL NATION

There was a time in my life when I didn't want to have sex… at all. Being a sex educator, this presented some challenges. Was my work a farce? Was I a phony? If I didn't want to screw around, how was I supposed to stand in front of others and affirm their desire to frolic? Stereotypes that had plagued me my entire career popped into my head: Aren't sex educators supposed to always be ready for a romp?

Well not this one. In fact, many of us (sex educators) don't want "it" as often as you may think. There's a dirty little secret we don't want the public (or our fellow colleagues) to know about. Surprise! Sex Educators deal with many of the same issues regular folk do: lack of desire, body image issues, anxiety, and sexual hang-ups.

But I digress from my story. There was a time when I didn't want to be sexual with my partner, or even myself. My libido had gone kaput. After a certain point, I became a little frantic. I started therapy, went to a sex coach and saw doctors. My body was examined, prodded, and poked. Here's what the experts then told me: 1. I was too anxious and that anxiety was getting in the way of my desire. 2. I needed surgery on my vulva because there was irritation, and that irritation was diminishing my sexual desire. 3. Emotionally, my inner demons were preventing me from wanting pleasure.

You know what? They were all right on some level. But one thing was missing.

A miracle.

Enter Flibanserin. It's the new wonder drug! Or at least that's what the media buzz is making it out to be. I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of the mechanics, but let me give you the lowdown of how it supposedly works. I say "supposedly" because even the creators of this drug, Boehringer Ingelheim, aren't exactly sure themselves how this works.

Flibanserin is a new drug that acts on certain areas of the brain that deal with the neurotransmitters or "signaling molecules" serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin regulates your mood, appetite, sleep and memory, while dopamine helps stimulate desire, reward, and according to some, may reduce your inhibitions. These are the same neurotransmitters targeted by more well-known anti-depressant medication such as Prozac or Buspar. Just like other anti-depressants, you have to take it every day for the levels of these helpful signals to increase.

Fabulous! I could pop a pill and my desire to screw will come back? Jesus, a few years ago, that would have sounded like magic to me. Ahhh… don't get too excited though. It won't actually be on the market for another 18 months, IF that is, it even gets FDA approval.

Hmmmm…. it might be magic. Humans like to believe what we see. But some sex educators, therapists, medical personnel, and bloggers are attempting to lift the veil off of Flibanserin. Like other SSRIs, it takes weeks of treatment to see any benefit; three to six weeks of taking it every day, to be exact. We don't yet know what the long-term side effects will be since the company has only studied the women six months after they stopped taking it. But rest assured, BI has assured us that six months is an adequate amount of research time to ensure patient safety. The last time women were reassured that a medication's long-term effects had been safely researched, women died of heart attacks.

Ok, so even if we assume that there might be some side effects, this is still a nation of instant gratification. Untold hordes of women will be jumping on board if it works. That's the real question: Will it make women want to play more? Well, we aren't so sure. One drug company-sponsored study states that it increased playtime 1.7 times a month compared to placebo alone, which increased by only one time.

Frick, not exactly a big difference! Perhaps it's too early to be reporting on this wonder drug? What we should know is that this pill, if approved by the FDA in a few years, is only supposed to be given to women who suffer from hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). That's about 20% of the population—not 43% as we keep hearing. Keep in mind as well that this pill is not an orgasm pill; it is a designed-to-increase-desire pill.

So for the subset of the population who do clinically suffer from HSDD, Flibanserin might just well be the miracle drug it's marketed to be. I'm not some anti-pharma activist here to say "No" to all Drugs. But I, along with other experts, am working hard to ensure that when drugs are given, they are properly tested for their safety and efficacy.

People in the field like myself who are looking critically at this pill are being called "one-dimensional" or "sex-negative," just because we aren't blindly embracing this drug before the studies are released and the data isn't analyzed without bias. So far, the only people I've seen who are wholeheartedly supporting the drug are paid consultants for the company. Shouldn't the public get to hear from experts without having to question if these experts are receiving perks from the drug companies? Shouldn't there be unbiased information out there to access?

Any time we take an action, whether that action is watch TV, pet a kitty, or take a pill, there will be some reaction. With Flibanserin or any other drug, when we put it into the body there will be side effects. When my sex drive crashed, I might have decided to try a miracle pill. But for you, your lover or your friend, before you swallow what they're selling, make sure to weigh the scales between your sexual pleasure and your health.